Q4 profit jumps 21% at ST Engineering

Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) yesterday reported a 21 per cent jump in fourth-quarter net profit to $170.4 million.

Revenue for the three months ended Dec 31 rose 2.2 per cent to $1.82 billion.

At the sectoral level, results were mixed. Aerospace was the best performer, with revenue up 17 per cent at $680 million. In contrast, revenue fell 24 per cent to $168 million at the marine arm.

Revenues came in rather flat for the electronics and land systems segments, at $517 million and $404 million, respectively.

Full-year earnings, however, dropped 8.4 per cent to $484.5 million, mainly because of a one-off charge in the third quarter at the land systems arm of its road construction equipment business in China.

  • AT A GLANCE

    NET PROFIT: $170.4 million (+21%)

    REVENUE: $1.82 billion (+2.2%)

    FINAL PAYOUT PER SHARE: 10 cents (unchanged

Full-year earnings per share eased to 15.6 cents from 17.05 cents previously, while net asset value per share increased by 1.46 cents to 70.2 cents.

The group ended last year with $11.6 billion of orders, of which $3.7 billion is expected to be delivered this year.

"Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects 2017 revenue to be comparable, while profit before tax is expected to be higher than that for 2016," the group said.

The directors have proposed a final dividend of 10 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 15 cents, unchanged from the previous year.

For the full year, revenue for the aerospace segment was 19 per cent higher at $2.48 billion, driven mainly by the contribution from a new subsidiary, Elbe Flugzeugwerke. Pre-tax profit was $300.3 million, up from $290.6 million the year before.

The electronics arm saw a 10 per cent rise in revenue to $1.88 billion and a 9 per cent increase in pre-tax profit to $207.8 million.

Revenue for the land systems segment was down 7 per cent at $1.3 billion, while pre-tax profit sank 66 per cent to $22.2 million on the back of the one-off charge.

A weaker shipbuilding performance at the Singapore and United States operations led to a poorer showing at the marine segment, with revenue and pre-tax profit falling 12 per cent to $841 million and 15 per cent to $75.1 million, respectively.

ST Engineering shares yesterday inched up one cent to $3.40.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 17, 2017, with the headline Q4 profit jumps 21% at ST Engineering. Subscribe